Two Auburn University Honors College students nominated for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship

Auburn University Honors College students, Sara Rains and Jessica Adams have been nominated for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship. The Truman Scholarship was created in 1975 by an act of Congress and is considered one of the nation’s top academic awards bestowed on juniors.

Sara Rains from Brentwood, Tennessee is a junior with a double major Nutrition and Horticulture with a minor in Hunger Studies. Sara is an Auburn University Global Challenge Fellow, a member of the Committee of 19, co-founder of the Auburn University ONE Campaign – a non-profit organization that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, an Undergraduate Research Fellow, and student ambassador to PUSH – Presidents United to Solve Hunger. PUSH is a partnership between the United Nations World Food Programme and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. Upon graduation, Sara plans to seek a position as a policy officer with the One Acre Fund in rural East Africa – a social enterprise that invests in farmers through training and market facilitation.

Jessica Adams is from Smiths Station, Alabama and is a junior majoring in Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology with a minor in Hunger Studies. Jessica is an IMPACT Project Coordinator, an intern with the Hunger Solutions Institute in the College of Human Sciences responsible for carrying out demographic research and program development, an Auburn University Global Challenge Fellow, and co-founder of the campus chapter of Bama Covered and director of its Smiths Station office. Bama Covered is a grassroots, student led movement to educate citizens of Alabama about their healthcare options under the Affordable Care Act. Jessica will travel to Pennsylvania State University in the summer where her research will examine vitamin A uptake levels in neonatal rats infected with Streptococus pneumonia.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is awarded to 59 college juniors on the basis of four criteria: service on campus and in the community, commitment to a career in public service, communication ability and aptitude to be a “change agent” and academic talent that would assure acceptance to a first-rate graduate school.